


Couch Competition

by SilverSupa



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Couch Cuddles, Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff and Humor, Is this just a lot of cuddling and pining for your best friend?, Oblivious Adora (She-Ra), She's trying! It's just not her turn on the brain cell, friends to lovers for the win, of course what else would it be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-29
Updated: 2020-09-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 04:40:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26709907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverSupa/pseuds/SilverSupa
Summary: They're supposed to be studying. In fact, that's the whole reason Glimmer even invited her over to her house, to get a bit of work done on their group project. Yet if Adora didn't know better, from all the blanket theft and light touching and the fact that Bow was strangely not invited this time, she might've thought there were some ulterior motives going on...
Relationships: Adora/Glimmer (She-Ra)
Comments: 17
Kudos: 44





	Couch Competition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Crynelium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crynelium/gifts).



Adora couldn’t concentrate, and it was Glimmer’s fault.

Which was totally unfair, because it wasn’t like Glimmer was _doing_ anything, exactly. She was literally just sitting there, half covered in a blanket, doodling what looked to be sparkles in the margins of her notebook, while their group project laid untouched on the table in front of them.

And yet, every time Adora tried to focus and form some strategy to tackle their coursework, the other woman next to her on the couch found some new way to distract her, inconsequential or not.

Glimmer looked up, her fingers gliding through her hair absently, and Adora wasn’t quite sure why she couldn’t take her eyes off. “Do you not like the song, Adora?”

“Huh?”

“The song,” Glimmer repeated, gesturing her head towards her phone. “You’ve been staring. You know you can just ask me to change playlists if you want, right?”

Ah, right. She was playing music over her phone. Adora had completely tuned it out. She did her best to make it look like she hadn’t been staring and to think of an excuse for her spaciness. Neither of which was the easiest to do on its own, and doing both at once helped ensure she did _both_ wrong.

“Oh, no!” Adora grinned. “No, I wasn’t even listening, actually! Not that your songs are bad! I mean, it’s not like you _wrote_ them, but you still picked them, and they’re definitely good! I’m just...what were we talking about?”

Glimmer’s nose crinkled, clearly biting down a smile. 

And _why_ did she have to be so much prettier here than in class? She always dressed very refined. Not quite ornate or haughty, but definitely flashier than Adora, whose varsity jacket had long since lost its red luster, fading to a washed-out pink with years of usage. She carried herself like a woman of high status.

But here, she was just...casual. The blanket lazily draped over her lower half. A tank top and flannel jacket that was slipping off her arm, unintentionally baring a tempting amount of tanned, muscled shoulder.

“Really Adora, just relax,” Glimmer said, coolly folding her hands behind her head. “Isn’t the whole point of listening to music while you work to help get you into the groove?”

“Sure! But I mean...it’s not like we’re _working,_ exactly,” Adora did her best to look casual as well. “But as long as we can get a good outline going tonight, it should be fine! Then I can take it home tomorrow and get as much done for the weekend as I can. That way, we should have _plenty_ of time to get everything done.”

Glimmer arched a brow. “I _really_ hope your plan isn’t to pull two all-nighters in a row.”

“...Not if you think it’s a bad idea, no.”

“You know it was only assigned _today,_ right? Plus, we’ve been working all day. And nothing helps me relax after a long day of stupid professors like a bit of couch time.”

“But Bow-”

“ _Also_ knows we have a whole month to get this done. Don’t you just wanna turn your brain off for a little bit?”

Glimmer smiled really sweetly, and Adora legitimately felt a little bad that she actually had no idea how to do _that_ even if she wanted to. Somewhere along the way (she really wasn’t sure how) they had ended up taking their class project to the couch, surrounded by an excessive amount of blankets and pillows. To say it was cozy felt like an understatement.

They had long since stopped working on it, but it wasn’t their _coursework_ that made Adora’s head turn and her chest ache. It was that this was her best friend she kept having these thoughts about.

And honestly, Adora didn’t _need_ anything else except a best friend. Would it be nice? Sure, absolutely. But she wouldn’t ask for it, and certainly wouldn’t put Glimmer in the awkward position of having to answer. And if it never came to be, then so be it. With whatever brain cells she had as her witness, she could control herself for the sake of her _best friend_. 

She could easily swallow her own petty desires if it meant it would help Glimmer.

(And Bow, of course!) 

“ _Gkk!_ ” Adora jumped. 

Something absolutely freezing suddenly pressed into the flesh of her arm. She was up on her feet in an instant, flipping the blanket off herself, only to see Glimmer’s bare foot.

“You _are_ out of it!” Glimmer just snickered into her hand, her cheeks taking a light rosy color. “I’ve never seen you jump like that!”

“W-what was _that_ for?”

“Aww, what’s wrong Adora? Never played footsie?”

Adora’s lips curled into a smirk, pretending that she knew what that was. “Bet it’s hard to win when your legs are so...tiny.” 

“ _Wow_ ,” Glimmer gasped in offense. “Remember when you came to my house and were _nice_ to me, instead of being big and giant and mean?”

Adora chuckled and scooted closer on the couch. “I remember how awkward it was the first time I came to your house. I was so sure you and Bow hated me...until I offered to get snacks.”

“No!” Glimmer flushed. “I didn’t hate you, it was just _weird_ having a third member in our group! And besides, if you hadn’t come in and organized everything, we definitely would’ve failed that one.”

“Please! Remember the Home Ec one? I was terrible in that class. I totally needed you for that one.”

“Ohhh?” Glimmer looked up coquettishly. “You _needed_ me, Adora?

“Ugh, you know what I mean.”

Glimmer let out a breathy laugh, and it was really only then that Adora realized that she had let them get _really_ close on the couch. Close enough that Adora could count the individual strands of hair sticking to Glimmer’s forehead, see the almost pink sheen in the brown of her lidded eyes. Adora frowned, keeping her gaze focused.

She debated how nice it would feel to touch that exposed shoulder, to feel the firm muscle beneath the soft skin. She debated scooting back to the other side of the couch, where she hoped her temptations would be less strong. 

She probably would’ve done the latter.

“Hey,” Glimmer smiled. “You didn’t _actually_ think I hated you back then, right?”

“No. At least, I hoped not. I think you were the first real friend I made when I came to this town.”

Glimmer blinked. Her face took on a pleasant, reddish tinge. “Oh. Wow. Really?”

Adora was waging a mental battle not to touch her hair and was coming very close to losing.

“...really,” Adora averted her eyes. “It’s why I don’t mind going out of my way for you. _Both_ of you, I mean. Considering the kind of...friends I had before I came here, it’s so different having people who bother to care.”

Glimmer frowned at the thought, and Adora was quick to downplay it.

“It’s fine!” She assured her. “Really, don’t worry about it! At least I’m here _now_ , doing good.”

“I guess…” Glimmer looked unsatisfied. There were quite a number of emotions playing across her face, and Adora couldn’t venture to name them. “For what it’s worth, the Best Friend Squad wouldn’t be complete with you.”

“Your big mean giant,” Adora grinned. “And on that note, I think I can totally get a good chunk of this project done in just one night, so maybe that’ll give us more time to hang out, and maybe even- _hey!_ ”

Glimmer yanked the blanket right off Adora’s lap. An impish smirk snuck its way onto her face, much to Adora’s confusion. Her mind raced to imagine what she had done wrong, why she had suddenly lost blanket privileges without warning.

“Was I...coming on too strong?”

“Oh my god.

“It’s totally fine! I mean it’s your house, and your blankets, obviously! Sorry, I guess it _was_ a bit dramatic!” Adora chuckled awkwardly at herself. “Always with the drama. I’ll be sure to add that to the couch...rules, from now on.”

“ _Adora_.”

Glimmer’s face looked stuck somewhere between pinching back a laugh and trying not to physically cringe. She flicked one of the corners over to Adora. 

“Come _on!_ Someone takes your blanket, and you’re just going to let them?”

Ahhh. So, it was another type of couch game then. Like footsie. Well, if she was asking, Adora supposed she could play along.

She curiously picked up a corner, gauging the other girl’s reaction. A flash of eagerness glinted in Glimmer’s eyes, her fingers curled in preparation. 

And then Adora very, very gently tugged. The blanket didn’t even move.

“...You’re not very good at this.” Glimmer teased dryly. “Are you _really_ just gonna sit there with your cold legs and-?”

Adora _yanked_ the blanket hard enough to flip Glimmer right off the couch and onto the ground. 

“Did I win?”

Glimmer snickered, “Oh, that is _it!_ ”

She bounded back on the couch, and made a grab for the blanket. Adora didn’t shy from using her height to keep it away from her. She barely even noticed how hard she was grinning, fielding off Glimmer’s attempts to climb her.

~~

Adora’s ridiculous sounding laugh echoed through the living room. It almost made her feel self-conscious, next to that boisterous, fluffy sound of Glimmer’s own, as she made grab after grab at the cloth now flowing like a flag as it was swung away through the air. 

Sometime ago, comparing it might’ve made her stifle herself. But now, she just felt too _giddy_ to reasonably stop it in the first place. And far too distracted playing keepaway.

Glimmer jumped up and _finally_ snatched it from her hands. They both looked at the second blanket, and their minds aligned with the exact same thought.

But Glimmer beat her there anyway. Their game culminated in her greedily grabbing as much blanket as she could and cocooning herself in them like some kind of burrito. Most of the edges were on the inside, leaving virtually no place to grab from and pull it away. 

But that didn’t mean that Glimmer had to look so _smug_ about it. “I win.” 

“Yeah…” With all the casualness of lifting a kitten, Adora picked up and deposited her back on the couch without an ounce of grace. “You win!”

She flopped down into the space next to her, holding her side as she gasped in and out. They were both grinning breathlessly, panting to fill their lungs with air. 

Slowly, Glimmer untangled herself and kicked the blankets to the floor. She was completely spent as she flopped her head down on Adora’s chest, rising and falling with her breaths.

Before she could think better of it, Adora set her hand down on Glimmer’s shoulder. No objection came. Whether it was because she was too tired or she genuinely didn’t mind, Adora didn’t dare to ask. 

“Oh man.” She chuckled. “Bow is gonna be _maaaad_.”

Glimmer outright cackled from the back of her throat. She swatted Adora’s arm playfully. “You’re such a dork!”

And now they were cuddling. This was fine. This was a thing that friends do. 

She looked down as Glimmer’s head shifted upwards. Her eyes couldn’t help but wander, down the lines of the other woman’s shoulders, the beats of sweat on her forehead.

Glimmer was blushing. “...Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me like that,” Glimmer giggled. She shifted, and for reasons that felt _dangerously_ unplatonic, she somehow ended up sitting on Adora’s lap, facing her.

“I…” Adora swallowed hard. “I’m not even doing anything! What am I looking like?”

Glimmer placed a hand upon her cheek, with a similar, challenging smirk she had before stealing the blanket. Adora was hyper aware of everything; the burn of her fingertips, of the shade of pink on her lips, at the curves of her outstretched arm.

Adora did something stupid.

She closed her eyes and leaned forward.

“Oh my god!” Glimmer sputtered. “W-were you going in for a kiss?”

“...I…um.” Adora blinked. “I thought that was what-? Were we not-?”

She rapidly reassessed herself. Admittedly, in hindsight, the way the hand on her cheek had actually been _pushing_ , as if to force her to turn her head, was kind of a strange way to start a kiss. In fact, physically moving her gaze to _win_ seemed like a Glimmer thing to do, now that she actually thought about it.

Adora’s heart leapt up to her throat. She had done the _one_ thing she had told herself not to do. She had become the toxic friend herself. She had literally and completely ruined absolutely everything. 

“Glimmer, I- I’m so sorry! I thought that was what you were going for! I _swear_ I didn’t mean to-! Like you were right there, so I just...like I just moved and...”

Glimmer stared at her like she was an idiot. And then she barked out an incredulous laugh, a blush dusted across her features.

Adora wanted to cover her face. The fact that Glimmer was still sitting on her lap made it very hard to get her arms in place, so she settled for just pinching her eyes shut. It was kind of strange that she hadn’t gotten off of her, but Adora knew it was stupid to say _that_ out loud.

“...Sorry.” She repeated.

“Okay, you _know_ I could see you staring at me all night, right?”

“Y-yeah,” Adora winced. “I guess you...would’ve noticed that too, huh? Look, I didn’t meant to ruin it, but if you could just get up, I’ll go and I’ll stop bugging-”

“For real, can I kiss you?”

Adora’s mind went blank.

She stared at the girl (who was still sitting on her lap), watching the grin grow on her face.

“...huh?”

“Honestly, I _really_ wanted to make the first move, but then you actually just went for it? Like...that was…” Glimmer giggled, unable to form words. “But like, if you’re _good_ , then I’m all for it, because I’ve been waiting, and...can I...you know...kiss you?”

Adora’s brain made TV static noises. She just made a vaguely affirmative grunt.

And then Glimmer kissed her.

Her lips curled into a smile against her. It was just a simple peck. But when she pulled away, Adora’s hand drifted upwards into Glimmer’s hair and pulled her back. And it all suddenly started to _click_. Why Glimmer always liked to invite her to her house, why she insisted on blankets and cuddling. A great deal of things started to make sense.

She had never kissed anyone. All the movies told her it was a really desperate thing, like you _had_ to do this or your heart was going to burst. Adora didn’t know if she felt that. But she knew she _wanted_ to keep doing it, so she let the feeling carry her.

When they did, inevitably, pull away, Glimmer gazed upon Adora with lidded eyes. They were like star shine.

Adora’s mouth resumed functioning before her brain did. “...Was that your first kiss too?”

“Oh my god.” Glimmer smiled breathlessly. Her forehead fell into the taller girl’s chest, embarrassed. “Shut _up,_ Adora.”

“Well I mean, it was mine!” She snorted again.

It really was the dorkiest noise, and it really shouldn’t have made Glimmer’s face light up the way it did. But she laughed more full with emotion than could fit into her tiny body.

Adora laid her head back on the couch, pressing a hand to her forehead as her cheeks caught fire. She let the giddiness completely overtake her, even as Glimmer rolled off her into the space next to her.

“I really like you too,” Glimmer said. “And I swear, if you keep overthinking couch time, I am going to _lose_ it.”

Adora’s hand drifted down her waist, tracing the enticing shape of the other woman’s body. She could live with that. Emboldened by the cat being out of the bag, Adora planted a sloppy one on Glimmer’s bangs, and didn’t fight the temptation to do it again. She got the distinct feeling she had well and truly won whatever competition this had been.

(They both had to apologize profusely to Bow the next day of classes.)

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this for my bestie, Crynelium! I really hope you enjoyed all the little jokes, you massive nerd <3


End file.
